


you get to exhale now

by dorkygabriel



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Pining Keith (Voltron), adashi, bc keith is PINING, broganes, keith coming out, lance is mentioned but not in it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-26
Updated: 2018-07-26
Packaged: 2019-06-16 19:48:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15444534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dorkygabriel/pseuds/dorkygabriel
Summary: a story about keith coming out, that somehow got warped into some sweet adashi moments too (with some pining keith thrown in for good measure)





	you get to exhale now

**Author's Note:**

> i originally wrote like 1.5k of this just being about keith coming out to shiro, but after the adashi news, well... how could i NOT make it into adashi too? the opportunity was just too good
> 
> anyway, enjoy! theres some broganes, some adashi, annnd some pining keith (over lance)

When Keith woke up this morning, he felt something inside of himself. Something akin to determination, and he decided today was the day. He was going to come out to Shiro.    
  
It’d definitely been a long time coming, and he’d wanted to do this since he knew himself, but it was hard. Everytime he thought about doing it, his mouth went dry and the words refused to come out of his mouth. Deep down, he was sure Shiro would be fine. He was his brother, he’s always shown him nothing but support from the day he met him, even when he wasn’t so kind in return. But there was that one part of his brain, the part that kept repeating  _ ‘what if’ _ .  _ What if _ Shiro took it badly.  _ What if _ Shiro stopped speaking to him.  _ What if  _ he was sent back to the home.

But today, he was doing all he could to drown out those thoughts. He was nervous, but he was ready. Today’s the day. It’s happening. 

Only, it hadn’t happened yet. He’d gone downstairs for breakfast like usual, was greeted by Shiro like usual, and they chatted like usual. Keith kept trying to figure out a way to interject ‘hey, guess what, I’m gay!’ into the conversation, but unsurprisingly, there wasn’t a natural way to do that when they were talking about what classes they had at school today.    
  
Keith wasn’t as interested in their small talk as he usually was, coming out being the only thing on his mind. But as he finished his breakfast, he left the kitchen and went to grab his backpack. Clearly, this wasn’t happening this morning. That’s fine, there’s still the whole day to go. 

They both got into Shiro’s car and headed to school, and the day continued on as normal. Shiro put on some awful songs, and Keith fought the whole way there to change it to something ‘ _ actually from this century, Shiro.’ _ While his nerves were still ever-present, he ignored them for now to enjoy his time with his brother, even if it was harder to ignore the part of his brain wondering if this would be the last time Shiro was so happy around him.

Throughout the day, Keith was completely disinterested in whatever was going on in his classes. He wasn’t properly focusing, but he was sure it wasn’t noticeable. Until it was pointed out to him.

“Keith?” Matt asked, watching him stare off into the distance blankly. “Keeeith?”

Still no response. Matt waved his hand vigorously in front of Keith’s face. “Earth to Keith! You there, buddy?” 

Keith blinked, before looking at Matt confusedly. “Yeah, what’s up?”

“You’ve been staring at that poster for like, 20 minutes man. Do you even know what class we’re in?”

“Uh..” Keith took a glance down at his textbook. “Physics.”

“Nope, engineering.” Matt looked over at his textbook, too. “You don’t even have the right book out. What’s going on with you? Why are you so… Not here?”

“Nothing, Matt. I just didn’t get much sleep last night.” Keith shrugged, grabbing his textbook and swapping it out for his engineering one. 

“Sleep deprived Keith is much more snappy and grumpy than this. What’s  _ really _ going on?”

“Seriously, it’s nothing. I’m just out of it.” Keith opened his textbook, looking around the class to try and decipher what he was supposed to be doing. 

Matt stared at him for a few seconds longer, before sighing and sliding his book over to Keith to point at the exercises they were doing. He knew by now that if Keith didn’t want to tell him something, he wasn’t going to find out.

Keith definitely noticed that for the rest of the day Matt kept looking over, trying to read him. Keith just rolled his eyes every time, ignoring his piercing stare as much as possible. Luckily, the end of the day did come, even if it felt like it took an eternity. He was glad to finally get away from Matt’s gaze as he headed back over to Shiro’s car. But as soon as Shiro spotted him and waved, he felt his nerves and fears flood into his mind again and he almost wanted to stop in his tracks. But he knew that would just cause suspicion, so he swallowed it down and walked over, getting into the car without a word. Luckily, that was normal Keith behaviour, and Shiro thought nothing of it. Keith spent the entire car ride staring out of the window. Shiro wondered if something had happened to him at school, but much like Matt, he knew it was best not to pry. Keith always came to him if he really wanted to talk about it, whatever  _ it _ was.

As soon as they were home, Keith bee-lined to his room and flopped down onto his bed with a groan. He wanted to do this. He knew he did, but he didn’t expect it to be this hard. It was never going to be this easy, but this was something else. He lay on his bed for a while, staring up at his ceiling and trying to hype himself up. After repeating ‘ _ you can do this’ _ ,  _ ‘it’s easy, just say Shiro, I’m gay’,  _ and ‘ _ it’s going to be fine’ _ to himself for about 30 minutes, he took a deep breath in. Time to face the music.

Without allowing himself to think about the action, he got up and walked out of his room, heading straight for Shiro’s door. It was partly open, as it usually was, so he knocked and took a step inside.

“Hey, Shiro? Can I talk to you?” Yep, it’s happening, no backing out now. But that didn’t stop the lump in his throat, and the fact that his legs felt like jelly.

“‘Course you can. What’s up?” 

Keith swallowed and walked into his room, sitting down on his bed. Shiro swivelled round in the desk chair he was sitting in to face him, looking at him expectantly. Almost like he knew what was coming.

“Uh.. So, I wanted to say this for a while, but I didn’t really… Know how to.” He took a shaky breath in, trying to ignore the fact that his hands were also shaking a little. 

“You know you can tell me anything, Keith.” Shiro said softly, offering him a smile.

“Yeah..” Keith looked down. There was no way he was going to do this if he kept rambling. Best to just rip the bandaid off. “I’m gay.”

Shiro laughed, which caused Keith’s gaze to snap back up at him, eyes filled with fear. As Shiro caught his gaze, his laughter came to an abrupt stop and his expression matched Keith’s. He hadn’t realised he was this worried about telling him, and he felt his heart drop to his stomach.

“No, no!” Shiro rushed to save himself. “I didn’t mean it that way!”

Keith didn’t say anything, didn’t even blink, just waited for him to continue.

“It’s just.. That was pretty obvious, bud.” His voice returned to its earlier soft tone, trying to reassure Keith.   
  
“...What?” 

“Come on, you’ve gotta realise you’re not the most subtle about it. I’ve seen you staring at.. Lance, right?”

A blush crept its way onto Keith’s cheeks and he ducked his head, resting it in his hands. “Oh my god.”

Satisfied that Keith had calmed down a little with his light hearted teasing, Shiro wheeled himself a little closer, so he could reach out his hand to rest it on his knee. “I didn’t realise you were so worried about telling me.”

Keith sighed a little, lifting his head out of his hands. “I just… Didn’t know how you’d take it.”

Shiro chewed on his lip. He definitely understood, but it still hurt that he’d been keeping these worries to himself until now. “I know. But, listen, nothing changes the fact that you’re my annoying little brother. No matter what, I’ll still love you.”

Keith felt a wave of relief come over him, and he even managed to smirk a little. “Even if I killed Iverson?”

“Even if you killed Iverson.” Shiro confirmed with a laugh.    
  
“I think I should make this even.” He added after a beat.

Keith raised an eyebrow. 

He smirked and pushed his feet against the floor so he wheeled back over to his desk, grabbing his keys and jumping out of his seat. “Come on.”

Keith stared at him for a second in confusion, before Shiro rolled his eyes and grabbed Keith’s hand to pull him up. 

“Shiro - What?” 

“We’re gonna go get ice cream. Besides, I think it’s time for you to meet someone.”

Keith wasn’t about to say no to that, even if he was confused by the latter part of the sentence. So, he followed Shiro out of the house and to his car. Shiro messed with his phone for a few minutes before they set off, and Keith figured out why when a different playlist to usual came on as they pulled off. Keith grabbed his phone to look at it.

“‘Gay playlist’? Really, Shiro?” He asked, but couldn’t help the smile playing at his lips.

“It’s a good playlist!” 

Keith playfully rolled his eyes as he scrolled through the playlist to inspect the songs. And, to be fair to him, it did have a lot of good ones on there. Not that he was about to admit it. Even if it was obvious he thought that when he began singing along to ‘strawberries and cigarettes’. 

It only took around 10 minutes for them to drive to the ice cream parlour, and when they did Shiro took his phone to both pause his music and check something else. Keith raised an eyebrow, but didn’t pry.    
  
They both got out of the car, and immediately Shiro’s eyes began searching. After a second, they stilled, and a smile formed on his face.

“Come on, Keith.” He called and made a gesture with his hand to instruct Keith to follow as he walked through the parking lot.

Keith followed, and realised after a second that they were walking towards someone, who seemed to smile as he and Shiro got closer.

“‘Kashi!” The man greeted him, immediately going in for a hug, which Shiro reciprocated.

“Hey, Adam.” Shiro hugged him for a second, before pulling away. He stood by Adam’s side, though, leaving one arm wrapped around him.

“Keith, this is Adam. My.. Boyfriend.”   
  
Keith’s eyes grew wide. “Wait... Really?”   
  
Shiro nodded, a smile on his face. “I’ve been wanting to introduce you to him for a while, now. Today seems like a good day.”

  
Adam smiled knowingly. Keith blushed a little, figuring that Shiro must’ve told him the news over text already.    
  
“Well, are we going in? Or did you just plan for us to stand in the parking lot all afternoon?” Adam teased, nudging Shiro a little, who rolled his eyes.    
  
“Yeah, come on.”    
  
The three of them headed in, and Keith smiled. Even though he’d never met Adam before… Wait. Had he? He paused, causing both Shiro and Adam to look over their shoulders at him.

“Keith, what’s wrong?”   
  
Keith’s eyes narrowed as he inspected Adam a little. “Wait… Is this  _ Adam _ ? As in, engineering teacher Adam?”    
  
A smirk formed on Adam’s face. “I was wondering how long it would take you to realise.”   
  
“I’m surprised it was this quick. He’s not good at remembering people.”   
  
“You,” Keith pointed at Shiro. “My brother-who-is-also-my-teacher, are dating him,” his finger trailed over towards Adam to point at him. “My other teacher?” He asked with a slight hint of disbelief.    
  
“Yup.” Shiro smirked, popping the ‘p’.   
  
“Oh my god,” Keith groaned. “Are you trying to ruin my school life?”    
  
“Maybe.” Shiro winked. “Now come on, do you want ice cream or not?”   
  
Keith stood for a second, contemplating it. Then he grumbled, walking past the two of them and into the parlour.   
  
“You’re both banned from any PDA in school.”    
  
Both Shiro and Adam laughed. “We haven’t done any before. But… It’s kinda tempting now.”   
  
“Shiro, no.”   
  
“Shiro, yes.”   
  
Adam simply chuckled a little, watching the interaction. “Don’t worry Keith, I wouldn’t let him. I have a reputation to uphold too, just like you have your emo bad boy one.”   
  
Keith’s eyes lit up and he smirked at Shiro, pointing triumphantly at Adam. “I like him. He gets it.” His expression then fell, and when he spoke again, his voice raised slightly in pitch. “Wait,  _ emo _ ?”   
  
Neither of them responded, just looked at each other, as if they were talking telepathically. Keith rolled his eyes with a huff as they found a table to sit at, Adam and Shiro settling in one side of the booth and Keith on the other.    
  
Keith watched the two as they acted like a cheesy couple. They started off looking in a menu like normal, as was Keith, but after a second Keith could hear them giggling. He raised an eyebrow, slowly peeking over his own menu, to see the two of them cuddled up behind theirs and laughing to themselves. He couldn’t fight the fond smile forming on his face. Sure, finding out Adam was a teacher was slightly iffy, because, well, he never got along with any kind of authority. And he knew perfectly well what the teachers at the Garrison thought of him.   
  
But.. seeing the two of them, it was sweet. Sure, he’d only just been reintroduced to Adam and only just found out they were together, but it was already clear as day how much they cared for each other. And if Shiro liked him, and he made him this happy, then maybe Adam wouldn’t be like the rest. He continued to watch them for a second longer before turning his attention back to his own menu. Then it really hit him. Shiro has a boyfriend. He wasn’t alone in this. He was gay, and so was his brother. Another small smile creeped onto his face, and he began wondering what he was so worried about. Shiro understood, more than Keith ever imagined. And it was pretty cool.

After a few minutes, all three of them decided on what to order, and Shiro went up to the counter to do so. Keith stared over at Adam, who was, admittedly, a little uncomfortable under his gaze.   
  
“Am I about to get the ‘who are you and what do you plan to do with my brother’ speech, or something?”   
  
Keith breathed a laugh. “I wasn’t planning on it, but now you mention it…” He leaned forward. “Who are you, and what do you plan to do with my brother?”   
  
“Well, I’m Adam. And I guess I just want to marry him. Is that okay with you?”   
  
Keith almost choked on the air he was breathing. “ _ Marry him _ ? Have you told him that?”   
  
Adam shook his head lightly, looking down at the table with a smile as he pushed his glasses up his nose. “Not yet.”   
  
Keith quickly glanced over at Shiro to check he was still occupied, before looking back at Adam. “Are you going to?”   
  
“When the time is right,” Adam looked back up at Keith. “There’s nothing set in stone yet. I definitely wanted to wait until he properly introduced me to you before I thought about anything seriously.”   
  
“Me? Why?”   
  
“Well, I don’t think it would’ve gone down great if I was suddenly introduced as his fiance, do you?   
  
Keith thought about it for a second before deciding that, yeah, that was fair. He probably would’ve been a bit upset if Shiro got engaged without even telling him that he had a boyfriend.    
  
Adam took Keith’s silence as an agreement. “Exactly.”   
  
“So… You really love him?”   
  
“Of course I do. We’ve known each other since we were about your age. I’ve known for a while that I want to spend the rest of my life with him.”   
  
Keith smiled a little. He definitely approved of Adam. Despite this being their only conversation with the new information Keith has, he could tell how much Adam was serious about this, and how much he cared for Shiro. 

“We were just like you and Lance, once.” A small smirk appeared on Adam’s face.

And suddenly, Keith’s eyes blew wide and a blush crept onto his cheeks. “Shiro told you to say that, didn’t he?”   
  
“Maybe,” Adam shrugged nonchalantly, and Keith relaxed a little. “Or maybe I just see how you two act with each other, and how flustered he gets around you.”

Keith tensed up for a second again, before he raised an eyebrow. “Wait, what do you mean flustered?”   
  
“Well - “   
  
Adam was interrupted by Shiro sitting back down, asking: “What are you guys talking about?”   
  
“Oh, not much.” Adam chose to say instead of continuing what he was going to say originally, causing Keith to half-seriously glare at him

Shiro’s gaze flickered between the two, lingering on Keith’s glare for a second, before shrugging it off. He’d already seen them get along, he was sure that couldn’t have changed in the two minutes he was away from the table.

“So, Keith. You approve?” He asked with a smile.   
  
Keith rolled his eyes, grumbling an “I guess.”   
  
Adam didn’t seem offended, though, simply smug. Shiro’s face dropped, and he slowly moved his gaze over towards Adam. “What did you say to him?”   
  
“Nothing,” Adam directed his smugness at Shiro this time. “Just mentioned Lance.”   
  
Shiro bit his lip, trying to contain his laughter. “O-oh.”   
  
Keith groaned, dropping his head against the table. “I hate both of you.”   
  
“C’mon, Keith, it’s not so bad.” Shiro tried to say, leaning a hand over to place it on Keith’s shoulder.    
  
But when he could practically  _ feel _ the heat radiating off of Keith’s cheeks, the laugh he’d been holding back broke through. Adam stifled his own laugh, going to speak again.

“I know how I can make it up to you, Keith.”   
  
Keith raised his head a tiny amount, just enough for him to be able to look at Adam.   
  
“I’ll partner you and Lance up for the next class project.”   
  
Keith’s groan was louder this time, wrapping his arms around his head. 

"You might wanna take him up on that, Keith, you could use a little nudge."  
  
"I'm doing perfectly fine!" Keith's head snapped up so he could display all of his offence in all its blushy glory.  
  
"You thought his name was Taylor for  _a year!"_

Adam couldn't help a small smile at that fact, remembering a few of those awkward occasions.   
  
Keith deflated a little in embarrassment. “I regret telling you anything. _Anything._ ”   
  
Neither Adam nor Shiro could stop themselves from laughing, this time. Of course, neither of them meant their teasing maliciously. Adam, he was trying to make a good impression, and was doing a good job of it in Shiro’s eyes, who was overwhelmed with happiness. The two most important people in his life were getting along and are happy. And more than that, while it may be through blushing and pining, Shiro could see how much more visibly comfortable Keith is now. How easily he could exhale, you could say. 

So he just smiled, humming. “Of course you do, bud.”

**Author's Note:**

> hope you liked that! (and yes, there is multiple 'love, simon' references bc no, im never gonna be over that movie and besides, its a fic about coming out so it seemed fitting) 
> 
> part of me worries about how ooc keith is but u know what? that boy has a soft side. and id like to think that when he came out to shiro, that soft side was very prominent. (been there, done that!) but either way, this fic is dear to me in more ways than one so i dont really mind tbh
> 
> and finally,
> 
> comments and kudos would be super appreciated! <3


End file.
